Presentation by Dr Kelly Macleod, JNCC, UK. On behalf of the SCANS-II Project Steering Group Project Coordinator: Prof Phil Hammond, SMRU, UK

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1 Presentation by Dr Kelly Macleod, JNCC, UK On behalf of the SCANS-II Project Steering Group Project Coordinator: Prof Phil Hammond, SMRU, UK

2 Funders: Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet, Denmark; Agence des Aires Marines Protégées, France; Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Germany; Rijkswaterstaat, Netherlands; Havforskningsinstituttet, Norway; Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem, Portugal; Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Spain; Havs- och vattenmyndigheten, Sweden; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK.

3 Context Early 90 s, concern regarding harbour porpoise bycatch No population size estimates 1992 EU Habitats Directive adopted: need to assess Conservation Status ASCOBANS entered into force in 1994 Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Good Environmental Status

4 Decadal series of surveys designed to generate robust estimates of cetacean population abundance & long term-trends SCANS (1994) 3 ships & 2 aircraft SCANS-II (2005) 7 ships & 3 aircraft CODA (2007) 5 ships

5 NASS SCANS (Yellow, III (2016) 2015) ObSERVE 3 ships (Green, & 7 aircraft 2015/16)

6 Methods enable absolute abundance to be estimated: Line transect distance sampling Perception/Availability bias (missed animals) Corrected for responsive movement

7 Harbour porpoise Common dolphin White beaked/white-sided 466,569 (CV=0.15) 467,673 (CV=0.26) 36,287 (CV=0.29)

8 Harbour porpoise shifts in distribution

9 Abundance SCANS-III, 23 RD AC ASCOBANS Long term trends in abundance? North Sea for harbour porpoise, no change Entire area: ,864 (CV=0.21); ,569 (CV=0.15) 600,000 Harbour porpoise - North Sea 500, , , , , Year

10 Abundance SCANS-III, 23 RD AC ASCOBANS Long term trends in abundance? Skaggerak and Kattegat for harbour porpoise Blocks Block 2 Harbour porpoise - Skagerrak / Kattegat / Belt Seas 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20, Year

11 ICES Assessment Units for harbour porpoise? 2016: 2,898 (0.32) 2005: 3,777 (0.72)

12 Abundance SCANS-III, 23 RD AC ASCOBANS Long term trends in abundance? North Sea for white-beaked dolphin, no change Entire area: ,689 (CV=0.36); ,287 (CV=0.29) 60,000 White-beaked dolphin - North Sea 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10, Year

13 Long term trends in abundance? Only 2 estimates for common dolphin in comparable areas 2005/2007: 174,000 (CV = 0.27) 2016: 468,000 (CV = 0.26) Significant increase

14 Courtesy of Waggit, J. & Evans, P.G.H. Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP)

15 Implications for ASCOBANS Robust estimates of populations but. Lacking trends in the Agreement area as a whole Offshore waters west of Portugal not surveyed Harbour porpoise conservation plans: North Sea population stable Inner Danish Waters population stable Iberian peninsula? Norway?

16 Implications for ASCOBANS White beaked dolphin no evidence of change Common dolphin? Bycatch rates high in some fisheries/areas Increases also driven by abundance Conservation plan in progress Parties continue to advocate large-scale surveys

17 Acknowledgements SCANS-III, 23 RD AC ASCOBANS PS Hammond, C Lacey, : Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK A Gilles, S Viquerat,, H Herr: University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Foundation, Germany P Börjesson : Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden K Macleod : : Joint Nature Conservation Committee, UK V Ridoux : University of La Rochelle, France MB Santos : Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Spain M Scheidat : Wageningen Marine Research, Netherlands J Teilmann: Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark J Vingada: Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem, Portugal; N Øien : Institute of Marine Research, Norway Equipment development Douglas Gillespie, Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK Russell Leaper, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK Aerial cruise leaders Mario Acquarone, Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway Helder Araújo, Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem & Aveiro University, Portugal Ghislain Dorémus & Olivier van Canneyt, Observatoire PELAGIS, France Steve Geelhoed & Hans Verdaat, Wageningen Marine Research, Netherlands Ship cruise (co)leaders Signe Sveegaard, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark Camilo Saavedra & Xulio Valeiras, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Spain José Antonio Vázquez, Alnilam Research and Conservation, Madrid, Spain Acknowledgments: We are grateful to all shipboard and aerial survey observers and the pilots, captains and crew of the survey ships and aircraft, without whom this work would not have been possible.

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19 SCANS III Aerial survey preparations

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